These two police chiefs are finalists to be Richland’s top cop
The city of Richland has picked two Lower Yakima Valley police chiefs as its top candidates to lead the police department.
Al Escalera of Pasco who runs the Sunnyside Police Department and Dominic Rizzi Jr., Yakima’s police chief, will be at an open house Aug. 30 to talk to citizens and other city leaders.
City officials said there were five initial candidates selected for the first round of interviews. Their names were not released to the public but one of them was current Richland Capt. Mike Cobb.
Police Chief Chris Skinner left for Eugene, Ore., earlier this year.
Escalera has been police chief in Sunnyside since 2014. Before that, he was a captain with the West Richland Police Department and was a longtime Washington State Patrol trooper.
Escalera promised a friendly, more neighborhood-oriented department when he came into office.
He just recently got a street crimes unit established, according to the Sunnyside Daily Sun News, after the department lost its gang task force in 2015.
He’s also faced some questions about officer overtime, according to reporting from the Sun, as well as a $5M lawsuit.
Rizzi has been Yakima’s police chief for about six years; he was a longtime Chicago police officer before he came to Yakima.
He’s been trying to leave the Yakima Police Department for at least two years. He was turned down for a job as Spokane’s chief in 2016, then again for a job to lead the Topeka, Kan., department early this year.
Rizzi told the Yakima Herald-Republic in January that he wanted a job that was close to an airport so he could easily travel when he retired.
Cobb, a 36-year veteran of the department, has been a tactical commander, SWAT team member and police dog handler.
He also led the recent merger of Franklin and Benton counties’ dispatch centers.
He was considered the most senior police officer at the department.
Interim Richland Police Chief Jeff Taylor was not a candidate.
The open house is 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Richland Public Library’s gallery room. A decision is expected Aug. 31.